Microfiber Cosmetic Textile and Methods of Use

ABSTRACT

A cloth for skin cleansing, particularly for removing makeup and eyelash adhesive, provides a double-sided plush microfiber cloth with a preferred fiber composition of 80% polyester and 20% polyamide monofilament composite. The preferred size is 20×20 cm, 280 gsm, with monofilament fineness of less than 0.1 dtex.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of related U.S. provisionalapplication Ser. No. 61/788,788 filed Mar. 15, 2013 by the same inventorand having the same title, and claims priority from and the benefit fromsaid related application, the disclosure of which is incorporated hereinby reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This disclosure relates generally to textiles and more particularly to acosmetic cloth for removing makeup and mascara.

BACKGROUND

Cloth as used herein refers generally to a pliable material usually madeby weaving, felting, or knitting natural or synthetic fibers andfilaments or something with like physical properties. The present clothprovides a material that is suitable for absorbing liquids (drying),cleaning, and polishing, and finds particular utility for cleaning humanskin. The cloth is preferably of the microfiber type. The particulartype of microfiber in an exemplary embodiment is a blend of microscopicpolyester and polyamide fiber which is split and then woven into hooksand loops to create tiny scoops that attract particles and absorbliquid. Example microfiber patents include U.S. Pat. No. 7,044,173titled Microfiber Towel with Cotton Base; U.S. Pat. No. 6,258,455 titledAntimicrobial Ultra-micro fiber Cloth; and U.S. Pat. No. 4,525,411titled Cleaning Cloth, which are all herein incorporated in theirentirety by reference.

Cosmetics (colloquially known as makeup or make-up) are care substancesused to enhance the appearance or odor of the human body. They aregenerally mixtures of chemical compounds, some being derived fromnatural sources, many being synthetic. In the United States, the Foodand Drug Administration (FDA), which regulates cosmetics, definescosmetics as “intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing,beautifying, promoting attractiveness, or altering the appearancewithout affecting the body's structure or functions.” This broaddefinition also includes any material intended for use as a component ofa cosmetic product. The FDA specifically excludes soap from thiscategory.

Cosmetics include skin-care creams, lotions, powders, perfumes,lipsticks, fingernail and toe nail polish, eye and facial makeup,towelettes, permanent waves, colored contact lenses, hair colors, hairsprays and gels, deodorants, hand sanitizer, baby products, bath oils,bubble baths, bath salts, butters and many other types of products. Asubset of cosmetics is called “makeup,” which refers primarily tocoloring products intended to alter the user's appearance. Manymanufacturers distinguish between decorative cosmetics and carecosmetics.

Most cosmetics are distinguished by the area of the body intended forapplication. The forms of cosmetics relevant to the present disclosureare, without limitation:

Primer, come in various formulas to suit individual skin conditions.Most are meant to reduce the appearance of pore size, prolong the wearof makeup, and allow for a smoother application of makeup, and areapplied before foundation.

Concealer, makeup used to cover any imperfections of the skin. Concealeris often used for any extra coverage needed to cover blemishes or othermarks. Concealer is often thicker and more solid than foundation, andprovides longer lasting, more detailed coverage. Some formulations aremeant only for the eye or only for the face.

Foundation, is used to smooth out the face and cover spots or unevenskin coloration. Usually a liquid, cream, or powder, as well as mostrecently a light and fluffy mousse, foundation also provides excellentcoverage. Foundation primer can be applied before or after foundation toobtain a smoother finish. Some primers come in powder or liquid form tobe applied before foundation as a base, while other primers come as aspray to be applied after the foundation to help the makeup last longer.

Face powder is used to set the foundation, giving it a matte finish, andalso to conceal small flaws or blemishes.

Rouge, blush or blusher is cheek coloring used to bring out the color inthe cheeks and make the cheekbones appear more defined. Rouge comes inpowder, cream, and liquid forms.

Contour powder/creams are used to define the face. They can be used togive the illusion of a slimmer face or to modify a person's face shapein other desired ways. Usually a few shades darker than one's own skintone and matte in finish, contour products create the illusion of depth.A darker toned foundation/concealer can be used instead of contourproducts for a more natural look.

Highlight, used to draw attention to the high points of the face as wellas to add glow to the face, comes in liquid, cream, and powder forms. Itoften contains shimmer, but sometimes does not. A lighter tonedfoundation/concealer can be used instead of highlight to create a morenatural look.

Bronzer is used to give skin a bit of color by adding a golden or bronzeglow. It comes in either matte, semi matte/satin, or shimmer finishes.

Mascara is used to darken, lengthen, and thicken the eyelashes. It isavailable in natural colors such as brown and black, but also comes inbolder colors such as blue, pink, or purple. There are many differentformulas, including waterproof versions for those prone to allergies orsudden tears. It is often used after an eyelash curler and mascaraprimer. [2] Many mascaras now have certain components intended to helplashes to grow longer and thicker.

Eyelash glue, or adhesive, is used to adhere false lashes to the eyes.It comes in either clear or colored formulas.

Eyeliner is used to enhance and elongate the size of the eye.

Eyebrow pencils, creams, waxes, gels and powders are used to color anddefine the brows.

Cosmetics can be also described by the physical composition of theproduct. Cosmetics can be liquid or cream emulsions; powders, bothpressed and loose; dispersions; and anhydrous creams or sticks.

Makeup remover is a product used to remove the makeup products appliedon the skin. It is used to clean the skin before other procedures, likeapplying bedtime lotion. Removing makeup as completely as possible isconsidered beneficial for skin health, particularly for makeups thatcontain comedogenic (pore clogging) talc, as well for subsequentapplication of makeup or cosmetics. The present disclosure provides atextile cloth for the effective removal of cosmetics from the skin.

The present disclosure describes the result of over years of experiencein skincare specialties including, clinical facials, chemical peels,eyebrow design and particularly eyelash extensions. Currentstate-of-the-art eyelash technology involves the meticulous applicationof semi-permanent, high fashion synthetic fiber, silk or mink lashes toeach individual natural lash to create volume and length. Successfulexploitation of this technology by a makeup artist requires a highdegree of artistic skill.

In an effort to advance eyelash technology, the present inventor soughta chemical free, noninvasive, inexpensive way to safely and thoroughlyremove makeup and other cosmetics. Through an iterative process of trialand error, informed by knowledge and experience, and sampling numeroustextiles of microfibers, GSM weights and DTEX counts, the presentinventor developed the present cloth, a safe effective microfiber yarnweave for use as a cosmetic and makeup removal adjunct. A durablemicrofiber weave for use to cleanse and remove all cosmetics from theskin was the result. A cloth of the present disclosure achieves theadvantages of cost efficiency, reusability, environmental friendlinessand is effective when used with only water.

SUMMARY

An exemplary embodiment of a cloth for skin cleansing, particularly forremoving makeup and eyelash adhesive, provides a double-sided plushmicrofiber cloth with a preferred fiber composition of 80% polyester and20% polyamide monofilament composite. The preferred size is 20×20 cm,280 gsm, with monofilament fineness of less than 0.1 dtex which isone-tenth of typical fiber fineness. The cloth fibers are 1/100th of ahuman hair.

The composite fiber is high density, the surface area is large whenclean, decontamination is rapid, clean dry, transparent like new,mildew-resistant and withstands many washings. One measure of cleansingeffectiveness is the absorbency or “suction” the cloth fibers exhibit todraw fluid and suspensions into the cloth. It has been determined thatthe absorption suction of the present cloth is five times stronger thantypical makeup cloths. The cloth is durable for reuse and washing isthree times faster than that of typical makeup removal cloths. Thepresent cloth is very soft yet tough making it a useful cleaning productfor the skin.

In addition to skin cleansing and removing all makeup from the skin, thecloth may safely be used around the eyes without disrupting eyelashextensions and the eyelash adhesive. Although medicated embodiments arecontemplated, even the preferred unmedicated embodiments are useful onacne and to promote skin cell turnover, as well as a pre-shavingtreatment prior to shaving to prevent ingrown hairs and razor bumps,even for men. Further uses include without limitation kids clean up andbaby wipes, and gyms. The cloth is not bulky making it easy to travelwith and would make an ideal courtesy amenity at hotels, spas, salonsand the like.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Yarns come in different sizes. They can be quite thick, or they can bevery thin. Since by their very nature textile yarns are soft andsquashy, the ‘thickness’ of a yarn cannot be easily measured by yarndiameter. But textile yarns are often sold on a weight basis, so it isnatural to express the size of a yarn in terms of its weight or mass.The two basic ways of doing this are by indicating either how much agiven length of yarn weighs (the direct system) or what the length ofyarn will be in a given weight (the indirect system). These two broadyarn count systems are expressed below:

${{Direct}\mspace{14mu} {yarn}\mspace{14mu} {count}} = \frac{{Weight}\mspace{14mu} {of}\mspace{14mu} {yarn}}{{Given}\mspace{14mu} {length}}$${{Indirect}\mspace{14mu} {yarn}\mspace{14mu} {count}} = \frac{{Length}\mspace{14mu} {of}\mspace{14mu} {yarn}}{{Given}\mspace{14mu} {weight}}$

Because a textile yarn is usually a very slender assembly of tinyfibers, it is conceivable that the weight of a yarn in a given lengthwill be very small while the length of a yarn in a given weight will bequite large. Consequently, the yarn count figures would get eitherincredibly small (direct system) or large (indirect system) unlessspecial units are used. Over the years, many different units have beenused in different sectors of the textile industry.

Direct Count Systems

The direct systems are based on the weight or mass per unit length ofyarn. Some typical direct systems are given below, together with theirdefinitions. Please note that while the weight unit is gram, differentlengths are used in the definitions.

Tex (g/1000 m)

This is the mass in gram of one kilometer, or 1,000 meters, of theproduct.

If one thousand meters of yarn weigh 20 grams or one hundred meters ofthe yarn weigh 2 grams, the yarn would be 20 tex. On the other hand, if100 meters of yarn weigh 5 grams, then the count of the yarn will be 50tex.

Dtex (g/10,000 m)

This is called deci-tex. It is the mass in gram of ten kilometer, or10,000 meters, of the product. It is a smaller unit than tex (1 tex=10dtex), and is usually used for fibres and filament yarns.

A 167 dtex polyester filament would weigh 167 grams for every 10,000meters of the filament.

Ktex (g/m)

This is called kilo-tex. It is the mass in gram of one meter of theproduct. It is a much larger unit than tex (1 ktex=1,000 tex), and isusually used for heavy products such as slivers.

If a sliver weighs 5 grams per meter, then the count of this sliverwould be 5 ktex.

The tex system (tex, ktex, dtex) is the preferred standard system. Bydefinition,

1 ktex=1,000 tex=10,000 dtex

Denier (g/9,000 m)

Denier is also used extensively in the industry, particularly formanufactured fibers and silk. It is the mass in gram of nine kilometers,or 9,000 meters, of the product.

By definition,

1 dtex=0.9 denier

If a 300 denier yarn is made up of 1.5 denier individual filaments,there will be a total number of filaments in the yarn.

Indirect Count Systems

Indirect count systems are not as straightforward as the direct ones. Inthe early history of yarn manufacture, different spinners, oftengeographically and culturally isolated from one another, devised theirown ways of measuring yarn thickness. Consequently, there are numerousindirect count systems that have been, and continue to be, used in theindustry. Some examples are given below, together with the mass andlength conversions,

Commonly Used

-   -   Metric (N_(m)) meters/gram    -   English Cotton (N_(ec)) No. of 840 yard hanks per pound    -   Worsted (N_(w)) No. of 560 yard hanks per pound

The metric count (N_(m)) is relatively straightforward. It is the lengthin meter of one gram of the product. For example, if one gram of yarnmeasures 40 meters, then the metric count of this yarn would be 40N_(m).

Similarly, if one pound of cotton yarn measures 1,680 yards, or twohanks of 840 yards, the English cotton count of this yarn will be 2 Nec.Please note that a hank of yarn is an unsupported coil consisting ofwraps of yarn of a certain length.

Less commonly used:

linen, hemp, ramie No. of 300 yard hanks per pound asbestos No. of 50yard hanks per pound glass No. of 100 yard hanks per pound spun silk No.of 840 yard hanks per pound raw silk (dunce) No. of 1000 per ounce

Occasionally used in the woolen industry

Yorkshire skein No. of 560 yard hanks per pound West of England No. of320 yard hanks per pound American cut No. of 300 yard hanks per poundAmerican run No. of 100 yard hanks ounce Dewsbury No. of 100 yard hanksounce Galashiels No. of 300 yard 24 ounces

The strange length units such as 840 yard hank and 560 yard hank cameabout from historical contingency. The first mass-production spinner—thespinning—jenny was able to spin yarns simultaneously onto severalbobbins and filled the bobbins up at the same time. The bobbins werechanged after 840 yards of cotton yarns were wound onto them. Toestimate the thickness of the yarns, the spinner simply counted how manyfull bobbins were needed to balance a weight of one pound. For example,if 6 bobbins were needed to make up one pound, the yarn would be calleda 6s yarn. Similarly a 20s worsted yarn means one pound of this yarnwould fill up 20 bobbins, each with 560 yards of yarn wound on.

Conversion Between Different Yarn Counts

It is often necessary to make conversions between different yarn countsystems. For this purpose, the following mass (weight) and lengthconversions are needed:

1 yard (yd)=0.9144 m

1 pound (lb)=0.4536 kg

1 ounce (oz)= 1/16 lb

1 dram 9dr)= 1/16 oz

1 grain (gr)= 1/7000 lb

Fabric GSM stands for fabric weight in grams per square meter. One candetermine GSM for woven and knitted fabric using following methods.

By Means of Instruments

Apparatus required:

Round GSM cutter and Weighing Balance.

Method: Cut 5 swatches from different place of the fabric. Weight alltest swatches accurately and calculate average weight of swatches.Multiply average weight of swatches by 100 to calculate GSM of thesample fabric. (Normally, area of round GSM cutter is 1/100 squaremeters.)

By Using Formula

You can measure fabric weight per square meter by using followingmethod:

weigh the fabric in grams (G) and measure the length in meters (L) andwidth in meters (W) and calculate:

GSM=G/L×W.

Product testing of the present cloth on clientele, each with specificskin care needs, proved over an eight month period that the cloth of thepresent disclosure was highly effective for facial cleansing. Thepresent cloth provides a technological approach to tacky chemical-ladenwipes: a specially-woven, reusable makeup removal/facial cleansing cloththat traps makeup, removing it completely, while exfoliating andrejuvenating your complexion. These disease fighting microfibers absorbmore particles of oil, dirt, and bacteria than other known fabrics,preventing contaminants from spreading all over the surface of one'sskin. Just add water, use, rinse, let dry, repeat. The cloth is machinewashable and conveniently portable.

The skin is the largest organ of the human body, and a reusableskin-care cloth provides the largest organ with a first line of defenseagainst dirt, germs, and acne. Makeup will be hooked on the tinynanofibers of the cloth and removed from the skin.

In a preferred exemplary embodiment, the cloth is a double-sided plushmicrofiber with a composition of 80% polyester/20% polyamide, preferredwidth is 20×20 cm, 280 gsm, monofilament fitness is less than 0.1 dtexwhich is one-tenth of typical makeup cloth fiber fineness. The compositefiber is high density, the surface area is large when clean,decontamination is rapid, clean dry, transparent like new, no mildew andlong washing durability. It has been determined that the absorptionsuction is five times greater than typical cloth materials. The cloth isreusable and durable. Washing the cloth for reuse is three times fasterthan a typical make-up removal cloth; that is, removing make-up from asoiled cloth is relatively easy. The clean cloth is very soft yet toughmaking it an ideal cleaning product for the skin.

Many modifications and other embodiments of the textile described hereinwill come to mind to one skilled in the art to which this disclosurepertains having the benefit of the teachings presented in the foregoingdescriptions and the associated drawings. Therefore, it is to beunderstood that the disclosure is not to be limited to the specificembodiments disclosed and that modifications and other embodiments areintended to be included within the scope of the appended claims.Although specific terms are employed herein, they are used in a genericand descriptive sense only and not for purposes of limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A microfiber cloth suitable for cleaning humanskin, the cloth comprising: a. woven microfibers with a composition of80% polyester and 20% polyamide monofilaments; b. monofilament finenessof less than 0.1 dtex; and c. a fabric weight of approximately 280 gsm.2. The cloth of claim 1, wherein the fabric weave is high density. 3.The cloth of claim 1, wherein the cloth is reusable.
 4. The cloth ofclaim 1, wherein the cloth is plush.
 5. The cloth of claim 1, whereinthe cloth is double-sided.
 6. The cloth of claim 1, wherein the cloth ismachine washable.